What I've Been Playing This Week (aka Pile of Shame Sunday)

The Blues Brothers!

The following post is part of a series of posts that are published every Sunday to update readers on what Mark G has been up to with respect to finishing off games on his "Pile of Shame". The games to target are picked by Choicest Games contributors Choona, Luke and myself. As I'll be talking about my progress through these games, there may be spoilers ahead, especially for games containing a narrative. Consider yourself warned.

Wasteland 2: Director's Cut

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 11%

Yep, this game and the original Fallout are quite similar in how you can have gruesome deaths galore (i.e. laser guns actually melt people and there's a chance for heads to explode when you're using any other gun).

So, I headed to Highpool after sorting out Ag Center and sure enough, the place has been decimated. I think it's pretty cool though how the entire map is different as a result (i.e. depending on whether you choose to save the town or leave it to its own devices, the different outcomes will determine which map you'll encounter).

I also met the A-Team whilst visiting the Ranger Citadel! Well, they're actually called "Team Able" but there's a guy on the team called Schultz and the leader says he loves it when a plan comes together, so I'm pretty sure that's an A-Team reference – love it how this game has old pop culture references like this.

I'm currently in the Rail Nomads camp – they seem to bear similarities to a cargo cult (they worship African American folk hero John Henry) and the Capulet and Montague families in Romeo and Juliet.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

• Picked by Luke
• Percentage Complete = 90%

Okay, I've progressed quite a bit with this and I've now ended up in a Jamaican prison. After assisting Bart Roberts in finding the Observatory, I was betrayed by him at the last minute. Also, in the real world, my character is now under house arrest of sorts (except, living at the office). You're guided to the main server by the I.T. Chief to apparently remove any incriminating evidence against you (the whole reason you're under "house arrest") yet when it comes time to do so, you instead end up communicating with what seems to be an advanced AI instead. Apparently the I.T. Chief's plan is for you to be the organic host for this A.I., probably similar to how Bart Roberts is meant to be a "sage" and yet, she refuses to do so which really pisses the I.T. Chief off.

The plot thickens!

Space Quest I

• Picked by Choona
• Percentage Complete = 52%

Wow… the "look" command in this game is dependent on where your character is physically standing! So, I found out through a walkthrough that I was meant to get a survival kit and some reflective glass from the crash site. It turns out the survival kit is explicitly mentioned when you look around the escape pod from the inside, so that's my own stupid fault for missing that. However, the reflective glass on the other hand requires you to be standing in front of the pod in order to see it. If you look at the pod from a different direction, it just tells you it's busted up. No mention of the reflective glass...

After this part though, I haven't needed to rely on the walkthrough (although after taking a peek at it, it turns out I've already inadvertently entered dead end states twice, which means I'll have to restore from an earlier game).

I also had to slow the game speed down for the skimmer mini-game since the rocks only appear at the last minute which means it's extremely tricky to dodge them. The drawback of slowing the game down though is that it takes a very long time to get to Ulence Flats. Once I arrived at Ulence Flats though, I noticed there are quite a few items I could buy and a solitary poker machine…. Argh it's Leisure Suit Larry and the save scumming all over again!

I also bumped into the Blues Brothers at the bar. Nice.

LINK:
[ The Pile of Shame ]